When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

Still several I would like to see but releasing 3 a month they can’t go too hog wild initially. Warios Woods is about the only NES game my wife will play and she smokes me at it. Including these NES games is waaaay better than charging $5 each for them, yet again. So overall I’m happy with it.

Still want more details. Will they have save states? If I’m the only one with the online pass can others with accounts on my switch play them? Do I need to download these or will they be in a single category on my home page?

Not going to lie, this is actually just rubbish. Great for those who are interested but this just turns me off the whole online, i know it's cheap but i don't have unlimited wifi as i live off wireless internet. Only got 50 gig a month and 20 of that is on my phone.

I would have justified the cost of this plus my data had the online been worth it but this is just rubbish. At least for now, maybe later it'll be worth it...

Well Runescape mobile will be available soon so there's my multiplayer fix covered anyway and theres always plenty of single player games on the Switch.

Why not NES and SNES at the same time? Don’t get me wrong, but picking 10 NES games that aged relatively well is a hard task, I don’t feel like playing anything other than SMB3 and Kirby’s Adventure (if that ever comes out). Zelda and Metroid aged like milk. The Mega Man games do play relatively better in the recent Legacy Collection with rewind function and region swapping, plus extra content such as manual scans. Konami and Squaresoft games are a distant reality.

I think those NES controllers basically confirms that leak from a week or 2 ago which showed the new controller icons. That means SNES games are coming and I would bet not too far away either. They can only keep the NES releases going for so long before scraping the barrel.

The NES controllers are only available to subscribers and limited to one set per member/family.

They're labelled under Special Offers along with exclusive Splatoon 2 gear. So it looks like deals like this is what Nintendo means by "Members only deals", rather than discounts on games.

Gimme a 16-bit NHL game, any one, with online play and I'll be set for LIFE!

Seriously, I had a Megadrive in the 90s and one game cost a third of a monthly wage where I live so I didn't have a lot of games on it. That's why sports games were awesome back then, because they were never the same. I spent summer holiday months to play whole hockey seasons with 80+ games... I enjoyed it so much but my friends couldn't always join in. Playing it online would probably make me feel like 15 again.

Hey, there is at least seven of the twenty I want right away. Three of the twenty, I have arcade on the switch. At least I don't have to pay five bucks a game and the online mentioned special offers not revealed yet.

I guess my wish for a permanent purchase option is not gonna happen!! Oh well..meanwhile I hope it doesn’t take Nintendo forever to move on to other consoles...adding 3 a month is a pretty slow pace....again. Thanks god we got Hamster, the Data East Games, Psikyo Games and best of all Sega ages on the other side!!

Where is Urban Champion? I realize that I am only one of the six people who love that game, but Nintendo has been keeping it available over the years. Ever since online gaming became a thing, I have been dreaming of a day that I could battle with the other five Urban Champions.

Not bad, nice to see third party titles. There's some of these that I wouldn't really want to pay $5 to play or play again on Switch, so $20/year? That's cool. I just hope SNES games aren't that far off.

@Enigminator Well.you are going to wait a long time for that one. Since the rights are all split by three companies. Nickelodeon who owns the TMNT rights, Knomai who's game engine and code was used for that game and whoever owns the TMNT game license. So yeah not going to happen soon.

@Alikan Yeah. Awaiting these too. I’m shocked theres no Castlevania, considering next month is season 2 of the animated series, and its Halloween, and the Belmonts being in Smash... Maybe Konami has a surprise in store. Hopefully...

Not wanting to sound like a Troll because I'm really not, but in all honesty there's nothing on there of much interest (that I haven't played a million times before already) .

Last nights direct I thought was fantastic overall as I explained in the other thread but I think I'm yet to be sold on the upcoming online service.

I very very rarely play games online so unless the special discounts / rewards are simply too good to miss then I'll probably skip it for now.

Nobody knows for sure but one would assume further down the line that Nintendo will start to add SNES, N64 and dare I say it even game cube games. After all if they plan to add 3 new nes games per month there's only so long that can last.

When some of the above gets added then it may become a more attractive proposition

Ugh so we get so many indies we're chocking on em..but they are gonna dripfeed us classics? Kinda pissed..they totally have the capability to give us snes..gba..n64..and GameCube on the switch but wont.. grrr.. and they wonder why we download roms and emulators? I would gladly pay for the privilege if they actually offered worthwhile classics..dont get me wrong nes is great i guess for now

A $20 upgrade fee to transfer vc titles from 3ds/wiiu/Wii would've been better. VC games last as long as you have the system (and you can back up your games and saves at home without a sub). I see this as a bunch of money wasted after the systems life is up and you can't back up anything you'd lose all those games once it's over.

Not really pumped about them drip-feeding these games out for the third time now. I know Nintendo likes to constantly "innovate," but with the Virtual Console, I really don't think it was necessary fix what was not broken. If they really wanted to "innovate" with it, how about just releasing more games, more frequently. Could have started with the entire NES and SNES VC libraries up, then if they felt the need to trickle something, trickle out N64, GC, and Wii after that. That's probably too much to ask for only $20 a year though.

By the way, I don't know if SNES titles are coming, I think they stopped mentioning them after the first announcement, so long ago, but if they do come... the same will happen: mostly the SNES Mini titles. Because they're the ones Nintendo has the license for.

The NES games offering seem good. I’m impressed that we’ll be seeing 3 per month and so within a year, we’ll have over 50 games if they keep it up. I hope that they introduce some RPGs like final fantasy on here. I wonder if they will institute a particular day each month to talk about the monthly games added to the NES online or if they’ll just introduce a few months worth at each Direct.

@TJWorks for collectors or people who just want the NES classic, no. Also, anyone who doesn’t want to use Nintendo Switch Online. For me personally, I won’t go out to buy an NES classic now. And after they announce SNES games for Switch, I’ll sell mine. But it’s still to be determined if the Switch will offer the NES games in the same way as on the NES mini. Perhaps it won’t have save states. Maybe Ninty will make some sacrifices to distinguish the two more.

@TJWorks Not if you like that little beautiful machine and playing home with wired controllers for nostalgia's-sake, like me. It's a matter of perception. I like playing NES games on the NES Mini. Playing in an actual NES is better, but my NES is the one a friend of mine gave me and he just had a few games and not the top ones, so I have to play the must-play ones on the NES Mini.

On Switch I guess I'll play them a little, on-the-go, but not at home, where I can play them on the NES Mini and, anyway, I have other consoles to give love to.

But I have a Switch to play Switch games, so actually I don't want to spend much time with these NES classics. I like they're there for when I have the craving, but I hope they don't become my main Switch entertainment...

Its a good selection and was easily the most impressive part of the Online part of the Direct. It's good to see such a variety that there is something for owners of the Classic NES to get excited about. The steady trickle of new games looks to keep things fresh as well.

Have they mentioned these games being available to buy normally too? Or they're really exclusive to people that subscribe and you can't 'own' them anymore? All I want is Zelda and Mario 3 from the NES.

They could have surprised everyone by releasing virtual boy games most people have never ever played or even heard of. But I guess this will come the day they add VR support to the switch (or their next console)

@OorWullie I think you’re right, and that’s the silver lining for the service for me. I was really looking forward to SNES games but was disappointed when they weren’t announced. But as you said, the fact that the SNES Controller icon was shown as well in the datamined 6.0.0 update shows that SNES games aren’t that far behind. Maybe they’ll start coming in early 2019? If they included the SNES Controller icon in 6.0.0 then it should be coming soon enough.

Not really fussed about how slowly the games trickle out TBH or what games are available etc, as I consider it just a nice little extra bonus to the small sum of £17.99 a year.

Plus, when I finally do find time to actually game, as retro as I am, and as old fashioned as I am, and as much as a technophobe I generally am, and as much as I prefer gamings past than gamings future really (yes, I'm one of those sorts of people), when I'm playing my Switch, I want to play whatever is my latest and greatest Switch game, not a NES, SNES, GameCube etc game.

For me, they are just something a little different to kill a few minutes at a time, not ones that I think I would ever stop playing a new Switch title for, for example.

As awesome as it would be to be able to play allllllllllllllllll retro console games on the Switch, from Nintendo, Sega, Atari etc, it strikes me as something I would sign up for for definite, but rarely use.

I'm the sort of person who would rather power up the old, genuine console with its own disc or cartridge (or a mini version like the NES and SNES, or the Commodore 64, all 3 of which I have owned since launch day, and yet all these years on and counting respectively, I have yet to even open them yet let alone set them and play on them).

People spent a year on this site clamoring to pay $60 for the NES Mini, and here you have 20 games for a year for $20. I know it's only a rental fee but you are also paying to play online and for the cloud saves.

And all the people on here constantly clamoring for VC. What were NES games going for, $4? $5? So that's $80 or $100 worth of VC games.

And for all the people not happy it's rentals, well here's something to chew on.

Buy NES games on Wii, $5, buy them again on Wii U, another $1, buy them again on Switch, probably another $1. With NO your $20 should theoretically get you the games on Switch, New Switch, Switch 2, Switch VR, and whatever comes next.

So while I understand some people don't like NES games - we own a Mini but I've never played it - $20 for a years worth of what could be at least 53 games - that I don't get. Might as well just complain about paying to play online and cloud saves, pretend these don't exist, b/c $20 for a years worth of 53 games is way better than either VC pricing or NES Mini in my book.

I know it's probably different people, just surprised this is so overwhelmingly negative. I'll probably never play any of these but it's not worth being disappointed over either.

Sigh. It's not a bad lineup, but we already got thorough NES libraries on our 3DS, Wii, Wii U, and NES minis (with and without modification). And what is the point of drip feeding them? Again? This is a service; you're already getting money upfront.

I think that the only way we'll ever see Gamecube games on the Switch is in the form of HD re-releases. The Switch has been out for 18 months and we're just about to get the first wave of NES games. And of course, it's the same old slow release schedule. At a rate of three per month (36 per year) I wouldn't be surprised if it's late next year when they move on to SNES games. We'll be waiting until 2021 just to get Super Mario 64.

There's a few that got me lukewarm excited, but I'm more excited about some online River City Ransom, online Super Dodge Ball, and finally... Pro Wrestling! Unlike previous NES VC, it looks like they are trying to practically release their original NES library (save for licensed games like TMNT for example). Double Dribble and Blades of Steel may not be far behind. The thought of online Double Dribble and Blades of Steel... no MeloMan, stop hyping yourself.

Nintendo, do something that's exciting even for fans who didn't abandon you.
This is great for Switch owners who skipped the last couple generations, but I've already got all the NES games on my Wii and Wii U.

To be honest, I was refraining from making comments until the full line-up of games were shown and now that we know it's just NES games instead of maybe having SNES, N64 or even GB, GBA games, it's a bit disappointing.

Now I know they can come later but to be honest, NES games haven't REALLY grabbed my attention in decades so it's not enticing for me. So I guess I'll wait , no need to rush a subscription since it's not worth it for me at the moment.

If I'm being honest I was so pumped for the nes games coming and I still am But I was a bit shocked the remaining 10 games weren't snes or other. Not sure why they held out on us for months to not even surprise us. With all that said I'm going to play the heck out of those nes games. LoZ here I come. See you soon.

@bezerker99 They still haven't made any REAL mention of multiplayer for games that were always restricted to one player in the past, only online functionality. I'm on the same boat here hoping that Metroid and Zelda can both be played online with other people. But if this is not happening, what online functionality will these games actually have? Speed running leader boards? Let's hope we get that multiplayer for Ninja Gaiden to to make that game just a little freaking easier too.

@mazz Yeah - you're guess is as good as mine. Hoping for multiplayer in that I get to play for a certain time and then i can pass it off to someone else. Will be interesting to learn exactly how this will work.

Honestly, so far I’ve yet to find a single colleague or friend with a Switch that’s remotely happy about being offered NES games drip-fed yet again after Nintendo doing this since the Wii.

It’s even worse for people who hasn’t owned another console with paid online services, because for them this feels really bad. They play online occasionally, and now Nintendo wants them to pay for it but doesn’t offer anything of value to them other than “now you can pay to play Mario Kart 8 online a few times a month!”

Honestly it baffles me that after all this time, NES games is all they’ offering. It’s abysmal from any perspective.

It’s amazing to me they can get away with milking the same games again and again. I bought most of these games already on the Wii, then there was the 3DS ambassador, Wii U and NES Mini as well, now they’re using them again to sell an online service for the Switch. They don’t even add achievements!

Gave this thought. Only 3 games a month isn’t cool. Lots of gems we already own on 3DS and Wii U should really be there. Spice things up a bit with 92 Recca, Murasame, Earthbound Beginnings... since we can’t get Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy yet for whatever reason. Really hook us. You have all these games, and went through the trouble of taking people to court over piracy. I’m 33. My inner child would like to play Zelda 2 and Mario 2 before Christmas. It isn’t cool that I have to wait until 2019. When I pull out my 3DS, the new online service becomes irrelevant. So pump those numbers up. Tell your 3rd party friends that its party time. Let the spirit fly. We buy the service for $20 a year. Just give us all the games. We’ll have a year to play em. By then its SNES time.

This is exactly how I feel. I very rarely play mario kart 8 or Splatoon 2 online and the £20 they're asking for just seems really off to play the main parts of two games I've already paid £40-50 for. Factor in the NES mini and the sub is basically a Nintendo tip jar (what it should be called).

It's a shame everyone here is going to give in and pay up because the service is getting a lot of negativity on Twitter and YouTube. If we all just stuck together and didn't sign up they would have to scrap the whole paywall thing in a month.

I feel that the online play in games should still be free and the sub should be for a large VC library like Netflix. I would be tempted to sign up then, but as it is I feel like I'm being taken advantage of and have no choice but to sign up if I want to continue playing games I've already paid for. My stubborn self will not give in to these sales tactics out of principle. For me it's about choice and this sub doesn't give choice, it just says pay up or you can't play some of your games anymore.

@Old-Red That’s my situation too. And what’s more, the majority of the games on the Switch don’t even have notable online multiplayer. I have a lot of games on mine, but the only ones I ever play online are Splatoon 2 and MK8 and that’s rarely.

So I’m with you here that it feels like an obligatory tipjar, and it doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll try to hold off as well out of principle.

@rjejr I was thinking about that too, the contrast between the demand for the nes mini and the negativity towards nes games as part of switch online. I think the people going nuts over the nes mini were the really hard core Nintendo fans/collectors. The scarcity of it gave it this mythical status.

Ironically I think the situation with the nes mini might have caused Nintendo to massively overestimate the broad appeal of nes games. Outside of the few million hardcore fans going nuts over the nes mini, I don't think you'll find anyone else who cares at all about nes games.

I paid $5 for Mario Bros 3 on the wii, transferred it to my wii u and can still play it there to this day. That and maybe a couple others (original Zelda, maybe Ninja Gaiden) are about the only nes games still worth playing imo.

I get what you're saying about the value of this, compared to vc prices, it's just that most people don't care at all about nes games anymore. Most of these games weren't even fun to begin with. I think when people complain about the absence of vc on the switch, what they really mean is they want game cube games, and maybe some gba, n64 and snes, which include games I would still consider among the best games of all time.

I think Nintendo dropped the ball in so many ways with this online service. But even just offering snes and gba games at the launch would have satisfied a lot more people. It would cost them nothing and would have gone a long way to improving the perception of the service. But only offering nes games initially just feels like a sad joke. I think they've carried their stubborn belief in preserving the value of their games way too far here and it's starting to hurt their image even with longtime fans.

(sorry for the wall of text. Yesterday I was thinking to myself that I was done ranting about the switch online, but apparently not because here I am... )

It is not a great decision marketing-wise or consumer friendly to release an "NES Virtual Console" 1.5 years after release. I understand we are not paying for each game, but NES games are so old, many people want to play SNES, N64, and GC titles. They should have launched with at least three consoles.

This is really impressive actually. I mean really. Remembering that one NES game on the Wii used to cost $5 . This is what $20? a year? Wow. I hate subscription services but this one's cost is really cheap. it's cheaper than CBS all access ha ha. Probably won't last forever.

Wow. How incredibly underwhelming. I can’t believe to this day haven’t been able to do better than the release day Wii e shop. They had N 64 games on launch like it ain’t no thang.

Dude I thought the 3DS drip drop feed was slow and agonizing and somehow they’ve managed to out do themselves.

Incredible.

Really lacking with the retro games. I just don’t get it. They could release so much more and for less and sell like gang busters especially if they promise to carry over digital purchases to future devices.

i was hoping for Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers first and second game... Also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Batman Returns, Contra... Those games were so awesome. Me and my cousin spent huge amount of time playing those games.

@ValhallaOutcast All the more reason to make them available on Switch! Besides you can’t emulate GC on NES mini and N64 emulation is really bad. Sure I can just do it on the PC but I want to play the classics from the comfort of my living room.

This is a solid selection of NES games to be honest. It's a good mix of the original NES launch titles with some of the later games (like Mario 3) added in. Like others though, I wouldn't say no to some GC, N64, or SNES titles. This service has the potential to be good, but NIntendo is picking an odd approach with it. They really need to just go with a Netflix approach and get as many 3rd parties on board as they can. Pretty much the only reason I would even care about this service is for Mario 3, Double Dragon, and Zelda. Even then, I have a ton of other ways to play those same 3 games, so... yeah. I'm mostly holding out for the online option, which would be cool. Takes me back to the days of using ZSNES and netplay to play Mario All Stars online and such. If it does support online, I'd love for Contra, Super C, Double Dragon II, and TMNT 2 to be released so I can play those games online with friends.

Wish they'd release the SNES version of Wario's Woods. I've only ever seen the NES version on the Virtual Console, and now on the Switch online service. I had the SNES version back in the day - an excellent, excellent puzzle game once you master it. It deserves a re-release. I could never get used to the controls on the NES version.